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YouNeverStopLearning.com
Newsletter - Learning for Leaders
Feedback and Personal Development - Where Does Your Organization Stand with These Practices?
February 7, 2010 |
| Contents |
Feedback and Personal Development  Here's the Scoop on Feedback!
What is Multi-Source or 360 Feedback & Why is it Good for You?
The Ultimate Use for 360-Degree Feedback Our Preferred Feedback & Personal Development Resource
FREE TRIAL of Software |
| Greetings! |
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We're talking with clients these days about their Feedback and Personal Development practices. Everyone has a full plate and it's hard to take on more - if feedback and personal development of your human resources isn't currently part of your culture, it sounds like a very heavy load. But, this ties directly to last week's article about retaining your top talent.
To get you thinking about Feedback & Personal Development, consider your answer to these questions:
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| Here's the Scoop! |
The Reality: People Rarely Give & Receive Feedback
Most people have "blind spots". They don't see themselves as others see them. For this reason, they often don't understand the impact their actions have on others. Although well-intentioned and hard-working, they may be the only ones who don't know they are causing problems. Feedback is essential for them to improve their performance.
People who take a professional attitude toward their work want feedback. They want to know what's working and what isn't. They want to be part of solutions, not the cause of problems. They don't like having blind spots, and they want to know how to improve.
The Challenge: People Need Feedback (remember that idea of retaining top talent)
The problem is that most people don't know how to affirm each other's strengths, and they find it uncomfortable to confront each other directly about performance issues. They often find it easier to bring these things up to fellow team members, so the individual who needs the feedback never hears it. Also, when someone gets feedback from only one person, there's a tendency to discount the feedback as just a single opinion-whether the feedback is positive or constructive.
How can your organization encourage people to give and receive valuable feedback so they can perform at their best?
The Solution: Multi-Source Feedback
People need an efficient, confidential and anonymous vehicle for giving feedback to each other. State-of-the-art software can simplify the process of collecting multi-source (360) feedback for anyone in your organization.
The technology were going to talk about - 20/20 Insight GOLD - is the world's most  versatile feedback tool. With this system, you can set up surveys to collect virtually any type of feedback-ideas, opinions, impressions, ratings-from any number of people about the performance of an individual, a team or even your organization as a whole. |
| What is Multi-Source or 360 Feedback & Why is it Good for You? |
| Multi-source or 360 Degree Feedback is...
A process for gathering structured feedback from internal & external sources about a person's competencies, developmental needs, behaviors, & practices.
What 360 Does...
- Enables a systematic evaluation of performance - how good are managers at critical skills?
- Provides feedback from many sources - more convincing, credible and thorough than feedback received from one source
- Provides objective, quantified data about the "soft-skills" (and we KNOW these are the HARD SKILLS) areas of performance
- Creates data for individual development planning - and follow-up reinforcement and coaching
- Creates data for needs assessment and OD planning
These clearly impact your Feedback & Personal Development needs! |
| The Ultimate Use for 360-degree Feedback |
A much more powerful application of 360-degree feedback goes beyond the diagnosis to support changes in behavior. A doctor's diagnosis can reveal the disease, but this information can't cure it. Likewise, 360-degree feedback can identify priority areas for improvement, but this information isn't enough to improve work habits. Changing a behavior pattern may require instruction, followed by months of reinforcement. Try changing the way you eat or the way you swing a golf club.
The problem is that even with the best of intentions, when people try to do things differently, initial attempts tend to feel awkward. When these efforts don't achieve the desired result, frustration and discouragement follow. Without a formal program of follow-through reinforcement and without support from the direct manager and others in the workplace, people tend to fall back on what feels familiar and comfortable. They eventually return to their old way of doing things.
To achieve the desired changes in behavior, 360-degree feedback needs to be followed by several months of reinforcement, involving ongoing learning, ongoing feedback, coaching and accountability. It takes that long for the brain cells to grow and reconnect into new pathways that are the physical basis for new behavior patterns.
After people are assessed in underdeveloped skill areas, they may need training. Either or both of these interventions must be followed by an extended period of reinforcement. This commonsense developmental sequence is the foundation of what is perhaps the most powerful 360-degree application ever devised: validating individual performance improvement. Used in this way, 360-degree feedback works both as a diagnostic assessment and as a means to check whether weak areas have improved. |
| Our Preferred Feedback & Personal Development Tool |
Our preferred choice for feedback and personal development:
Why?
- The publisher - Performance Support Systems - we love 'em - great to work with, totally responsive - leading edge content
- Ease of use of the software - for administrators and users
- Flexibility - it's a complete survey platform
- Prepared surveys - use the existing surveys - saves time you don't have to create your own surveys
- Customization options - add your own questions, create the rating scales you want to use
- Range of applications satisfied - the software covers everything you could want to survey or assess
- Developmental action planning - how many systems do you know of that provide built-in developmental recommendations? This is what takes 20/20 Insight BEYOND survey software - you can actually focus on specific developmental actions geared to your specific needs
- Affordability - tremendous value for your money - one time pricing - no ongoing
maintenance/installation costs
- Free upgrades
- Technical support
The applications with 20/20 Insight related to our topic today of Feedback and Personal Development are:
- Leadership development - Diagnose skill strengths and areas for development of executives, managers and supervisors.
- Measuring performance improvement - Administer customized surveys based on course objectives before and after training to determine if the skills taught in training transfer to improved performance on the job.
- Managers' coaching skills - Find out how effective managers are at coaching their direct reports about on-the-job performance.
- Individual skill development - Have team members give each other feedback about personal leadership, team interaction and workplace skills.
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| FREE TRIAL of 20/20 Insight Software |
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 This exceptional learning and development resource is worth your serious consideration. Call me now - we can take a look at your needs, 20/20 solutions and even arrange a FREE 30 Day Trial
You'll be glad you checked it out!
Bob Mann
208.762.1322
888.762.9699
Additional 20/20 Insight Resources:
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| ALD Quick Links & Contact Info |
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